1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a book.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In West German Patent Application No. P 31 09 114, a book is proposed which is comprised of a relatively soft book cover and an inner book, whereby the book cover can be formed as a one-piece cover blank and includes two inner cover portions, two outer cover portions and a spine portion. The inner cover portions and the spine portion are separated from respective outer cover portions by grooves. A preferably continuous stiffening member is attached to the top cut edge and the bottom cut edge of the outer cover portion, as well as to the corresponding edge of the spine portion, whereby grooves are provided in the top cut and the bottom cut edges.
An additional relevant book cover is disclosed in West German Pat. No. 1 299 594. The insertion of the inner book into the known book cover is done in a manner such that the fly-leaves or corresponding end pages of the inner book are attached exclusively to the surfaces of the inner cover portions, primarily near the folding areas. This manner of attachment provides no connection between the back of the inner book and the book cover so that the bound book is similar to a conventional book in the spine area, and yet the bond is not sufficiently strong so that after the book is opened many times, the bond between the book cover and the inner book tears or becomes separated.
In connection with a binding having a soft cover in which the inner book is usually glued over the full surface of the spine and sometimes also in the folding area, it is known from West German Patent Application No. 29 36 674 to avoid using the spine of the relatively soft cover for binding the inner book in order to avoid spine insertion and the disadvantages associated therewith. Instead, a gauze strip is glued to and around the spine of the inner book, and the front and back cover pages of the soft cover are glued only to a lateral attachment edge of the gauze strip, so that, when the book is opened, the spine portion of the book cover can lift away from the back of the inner book, as is common with a book having a rigid cover. With so-called soft cover books, however, even this known manner of attachment is not sufficient.
In this connection, West German Patent Application No. P 31 09 114 provides the arrangement of a strip, preferably a folding strip, the edge portion of which overlaps the spine portion of the book cover, and only this overlapping edge portion is glued to the inside surface of the respective outer cover portion and/or inner cover portion next to the groove separating the spine portion from the side portions of the book cover.